Harleys17

Hi there

I am looking to move to Canada next year with my family
We will be going more than likely on a student visa as I will be working through year 2 of my degree. My wife will hopefully be going on a work visa as she will graduate this year

I have been advised to open a bank account now as it will help build up credit history etc
How does this work if I am not already a Canadian resident ?
Would I need an address in Canada?

The wanderer.

If your studying in Canada you would be able to get a part time work visa, and be able to get a sin number. You would use your sin number to open bank account, you will also need address.

Other places like Canadian tire do credit cards as well which a very good to build up credit. The main thing is to pay the credit back as soon as possible. Most people would do it straight away if they are trying to build credit.

Harleys17

Thanks for the reply.
Is it possible to open any type of account from being based in the Uk?
To start building a credit history?

Almost Canadian

It is possible to open an account from the UK but you will not be able to make any withdrawals from it until you attend the bank in person and show ID.

Opening an account will have no bearing upon our credit history unless the account provides you with credit. I can`t see a bank wanting to do so until you show up in person.

Lichisadave

Hi sorry for gate crashing OP post but a quick question. Is it a good idea to apply for a credit card and pay for things on that when you get into Canada even if you have funds to pay cash? And then just pay the balance off, does this help with your credit score? TIA

The wanderer.

That's one of the fastest/best ways to increase credit score.

suzeandmatt

Of course. That’s what most people do. A good credit history comes from being able to responsibly use credit- as in, apply for it and pay it off without issues.
When we first arrived in Canada our bank gave us a $2000 credit card- we just used it to buy groceries etc and then just cleared it each month. The bank then increased the credit limit when they saw we could handle it fine.
9 months later we successfully applied for another credit card to keep building the good credit history and they’ve also already increased that limit because we just use it for everything and pay it off.
Credit cards are used very differently here to how they are in the UK- it’s just the norm here.

Not only that but using them all the time means we get a LOT of cash back at the end of the year. One of ur credit cards got us almost $1000 in cash back- and only costs $40 for the year. So totally worth it.

Lichisadave

Great thanks for the reply.

christmasoompa

Just to clarify this for the sake of anybody reading, if eligible for on or off campus work when on a study permit, no work permit is needed. Plus not all studying in Canada means you can work, it depends on where the course is and the duration of it.

HTH.

Tumbling_Dice

Bank accounts, as already said, have no bearing on credit.

What you will find is that many, if not all, banks have offers for newcomers to Canada, part of which will include a credit card. They may offer you a secured credit card (which means you lock the equivalent of your credit limit in a savings account). Otherwise, you use the credit card as a normal credit card.

The other thing we did was move our UK American Express card over here. Had an instant unsecured card.

There are so many myths floating around about what impacts, or helps, with your credit rating here. I used my credit card to pay for everything, including my $2.25 coffee, and paid the balance off in full by the payment date. I still do, in fact.

There is some debate about going up to the limit each month and paying it off, with some people saying you should only go up to 60-70%. I went up to the limit a few times and, when we applied for a car loan, it did say high credit usage, but that was the only comment. We got our car loan after being here for a year with one of the main banks, so we did things right.

Collie

Just in case you're thinking of doing the same, we tried bringing copies of our UK Equifax credit reports over with us, together with copies of previous credit card statements etc. This counted for absolutely zero. We had a hell of a difficult job getting credit when we came over 6 years ago (our credit limit had to be backed up by a GIC) despite being mightily solvent with plenty of evidence for that. Canadian banks work by a very blinkered set of rules in our experience.

BristolUK

My first credit card in Canada (TD Green) took me three goes to get it. Not three applications but one and two "think agains". The original application was refused (on lack of credit) and they still refused when I pointed out I had a quarter of a million dollars in two unmortgaged properties and the equivalent of around $30,000 in UK credit.

I wrote back a second time, enclosing UK credit statements to show the spending activity in Canada that could be on their card instead and then they agreed a card with a low level that soon started shooting up.

That was about 10 years ago and I had the impression (from other posts) things had improved a couple of years later. But if you still had a problem 6 years ago maybe it's only improved more recently than I thought.